State University & Community College Presidents, VPS, Top Mgerss Slated for Merit Raises

Presidents, vice presidents and top administrators and managers in the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities system are slated to receive a total of $761,181 in merit raises.

One hundred and forty managers employed by the system are eligible for the raises, which are scheduled for consideration Tuesday by the Board of Regents for Higher Education’s human resources and administration committee.

If approved, the proposal would likely go to the full Board of Regents for a vote next week.

Michael Kozlowski, spokesman for the Board of Regents, emphasized that it will be up to the human resources committee and the full Board of Regents to decide whether the raises go forward as proposed. The board oversees four regional state universities, 12 community colleges, and the state’s online college.

The raises, which would be awarded based on performance, would be capped at 5 percent and would likely average about 3.5 percent. Only employees receiving performance ratings of “meets expectations,” “satisfactory,” “good” or better would be eligible for the salary adjustment.

Because the salary adjustment would be effective as of Dec. 26, the cost of the raises for the six months left in fiscal year 2015 will be $380,590. The raises would be reflected retroactively in the Feb. 6 paychecks. The annualized cost of the raises would be $761,181.

The managers eligible for the increase include presidents, vice presidents, provosts, university directors, community college administrators and the Charter Oak State college dean.

A similiar merit raise was granted to less senior CSCU managers and employees in July.

Kozlowski did not have immediately available a salary range for those employees eligible for the proposed raise. However, the salary range for the 133 less senior employees who received merit raises in July, which included lower-paid managers and nonunion personnel, ranged from $40,000 to $100,000.

Those raises also included a 5 percent cap and were expected to average 3.5 percent. The cost was projected at $366,547.